(1) Summary of the Invention
The present invention relates to a neck protection device for use by drivers or other occupants of high performance vehicles including cars, boats and aircraft to reduce fatigue or injury. In particular, the present invention relates to a neck protection device which includes a yoke which fits over the shoulders and chest of the occupant under shoulder harnesses with a high collar on the yoke and with a set of tethers for attachment between the helmet and the collar.
(2) Prior Art
An occupant of a high performance car, plane, or boat commonly wears a helmet for protection from head injury and also wears a shoulder harness which restrains torso movements relative to the seat and vehicle. These vehicles are designed to be light and structurally stiff and to move and change directions rapidly. When the vehicle undergoes accelerations either in normal operation or in a crash, the torso of the occupant is restrained by the seat and harness to move with the vehicle but the helmeted head is commonly unrestrained except by contact with portions of the vehicle or seat. Thus, the loads which constrain the head to move with the torso are transmitted primarily through the neck. Such neck loads lead to fatigue during normal vehicle operation and to injury in a vehicle crash.
Various straps or neck brace structures have been used to transmit loads from the helmeted head to the torso. Such devices reduce neck muscle fatigue and some extreme motions of the neck. They also can contribute to compression, tension, shear, and bending of the neck and aggravate injury potential in a crash.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,278,230 to Boyce et al describes a shell and frame which is individually fitted and worn on the torso of an astronaut or crew of a high performance aircraft. This shell and frame serve as the seat back once it is secured into the aircraft by means of pins. A head rest is mounted to the frame extending upward from the torso shell to behind the head. The head is securely held in the headrest by one strap on either side of the helmet only when these straps are retracted once the restraint system is actuated in an emergency situation. There is no specific description given of the placement of the straps relative to the geometric configuration of the head and helmet. Except for rearward movements of the helmet which are restrained by contact with the headrest, the head and helmet are not restrained under normal vehicle operation but only by retraction of the straps on the reels which must be actuated for system operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,896 to Ackerman describes a bar which attaches to the rear of a football helmet and extends downward to fit into a cylindrical guide attached to the shoulder pads. This device would allow only movements of the helmet relative to the shoulder pads which are vertical along the axis of the bar and rotational about the axis of the bar; other motions are restrained by the device. The restrained motions are needed for athletic performance or vehicle operation and the motions not restrained by the device could result in potentially fatiguing or injurious loading in the neck.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,996 to Varteressian describes a device (similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,896 to Ackerman above) which includes a bar with its upper end attached to the rear of the helmet in a track to allow vertical motion of the bar relative to the helmet within limits of the track and the lower end of the bar attached by a ball and socket to a jacket worn on the torso. Movements of the neck are restrained by the ball-and-socket at the jacket and the slider in the track at the helmet; these restrained neck motions are not those that would naturally occur and they could be irritating to the user. For example, lateral bending of the neck to the right or left must follow the combination of rotations and translations dictated by the center of ball-and-socket joint rather than the motions of the vertebral linkage. If the stops in the ball-and-socket and slider are configured correctly, this design could reduce the potential for injury at the extremes of neck motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,822 to Sawyer describes a harness with straps on the torso and connected to the helmet to prevent the helmet from leaving the head. The harness straps do not substantially restrain the forward bending of the neck and they could cause potentially injurious compressive and bending loading in the neck under extreme neck motions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,509 to Romo et al describes a strap between a football helmet and shoulder pads which is similar in effect to the harness described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,925,822 to Sawyer above.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,681 to Benitez et al describes a device as such: "Columnar support extends upward from the back of the occupant for attachment to the crash helmet." This support is not substantively described.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,134,106 to Shaffer et al describes an attachment of a football player's helmet to the shoulder pads by pin joints on either side of the neck.
Other U.S. patents more distantly related to the present invention include U.S. Pat. No. 1,144,150 to Marcousky; U.S. Pat. No. 3,074,669 to Bohlin; U.S. Pat. No. 3,099,261 to Doss et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,375 to Jones; U.S. Pat. No. 3,329,464 to Barwood et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,193 to Newman; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,362 to Ettinger.
Thus, the prior art does contain descriptions of related devices with some of the elements of the present invention including straps to restrain helmet motions and supports between helmet and torso. These prior devices are intended to protect the neck from injury; however they do not address the problem of relative movement of the head in relation to the body in a crash situation.